Chapter 183: Zhenzhen’s Potential, Ritual’s Embrace
Upon returning to the apartment, Zhang Yu immediately resumed his cultivation of the Spring and Autumn Endless Zen.
As he moved through the forty-nine stances, his Longevity Magic Power continuously stimulated the repair and regeneration of every fiber of his being, making his body, which had been gradually withered by brutal training and alchemical enhancers, feel as if it were being born anew.
Spring and Autumn Endless Zen Level 8 (36/80)
Although he was immersed in his training, the conversation with Yun Ni had undeniably left its mark on Zhang Yu.
The Inspection Team… are they investigating the evil god incident?
Yun Ni’s attention added another layer of pressure.
Even though Zhang Pianpian had asked her to look after him, he highly doubted that protection would extend to him if she were to discover the secrets he harbored about the evil god.
To counter the Inspection Team’s potential surveillance, Zhang Yu knew he had to accelerate the ritual preparations to gain more counter-intelligence and information-interference capabilities as soon as possible.
Recalling Zhang Pianpian’s words, Zhang Yu sighed with sincere conviction, “Controlling information, mastering the information gap—these are essential skills for anyone wanting to climb the ladder in Kunxu.”
The next day, with all the necessary materials gathered, Zhang Yu led Fu Ji and Bai Zhenzhen to the familiar abandoned building to begin Bai Zhenzhen’s wish ritual, as well as the detection and anti-detection rituals for them both.
Inside a room in the abandoned building.
Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were setting up the ritual site according to Fu Ji’s instructions.
Fu Ji lectured eloquently, “Rituals are all about offerings and scale. The finer the offerings, the better the effect, the higher the success rate, and the less likely it is to be detected by the righteous gods. The larger the scale, the greater the ritual’s range and effective distance.”
“Additionally, the altar, a medium between human and god, a divine object for spiritual energy, a symbol of the evil god, and the incantation are all fundamental elements. Not a single one can be missing…”
At the same time, the room had been filled with rows of red candles.
Fu Ji had reverted to her form as a tattered cloth doll and was placed upon a brass altar.
Two smartphones with unlimited data plans were set to her left and right, serving as the medium for communication between the human and divine.
The rented Qi sea Spiritual Root, an excellent vessel for storing spiritual energy, was held in Fu Ji’s hands.
As for Fu Ji herself, in her true form as an evil god… she was the most supreme symbol of an evil god imaginable.
Four antiques were placed at the four cardinal points of the ritual circle, the latent power of incense and worship within them waiting to be drawn out and used by Fu Ji.
“Primordial darkness of the great polarity (Yin-Yang), where shadows drift and sink, by the sincere worship of all living things, let the power of incense and devotion come forth!”
With a series of gestures from Fu Ji, the antiques shattered one by one, and the invisible power they released surged into her body.
“Blind the spiritual sense, let the believer wander in delusion, where true and false cannot be discerned, may their wishes gather in my sac, as swift as the law commands!”
As a thread of dark golden divine power appeared above Fu Ji’s head, Bai Zhenzhen, standing at the center of the ritual, went rigid. The next moment, the evil god power poured into her body.
A long time later, as the ritual concluded, Bai Zhenzhen slowly opened her eyes, examining her body with curiosity.
“How is it?” Zhang Yu asked. “Zhen, are you alright?”
A glint of electricity suddenly flashed in Bai Zhenzhen’s eyes, and a smile spread across her face.
“Yu-boy, is this what it feels like to have your potential unlocked?”
“Is this the power that has been hidden inside me all along?”
Threads of electric light erupted from Bai Zhenzhen’s eyes, and then arcs of lightning began to flicker across her entire body.
Watching Bai Zhenzhen’s long hair stand on end amidst the crackling lightning, Zhang Yu asked in amazement, “What kind of potential did you unlock?”
Bai Zhenzhen opened her mouth, and bolts of electricity materialized within.
“It’s hard to say for certain yet. I need to experiment more to figure out exactly what’s going on.”
As the lightning subsided, the strange phenomena emanating from Bai Zhenzhen’s body gradually faded.
She decided to explore the specific changes within her body later, in her own time.
The immediate priority was to complete the remaining rituals.
The two worked together to set up the next rituals, performing the detection ritual and the anti-detection ritual in succession.
As the rituals completed, a series of runes flashed across Zhang Yu’s back and then vanished. He felt two distinctly different ritualistic powers settle within his body.
Zhang Yu tried to activate the power of the detection ritual. In the pitch-black room, a single spot suddenly began to glow, emitting a unique pull that drew his eyes to it—it was the surveillance camera they had brought with them.
Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had brought the camera specifically to test the effectiveness of the detection ritual.
“So that’s how it works.” Zhang Yu looked at the camera, which was now faintly glowing in his vision. When he withdrew the ritual’s power, the camera once again faded into the darkness.
As long as I activate the detection ritual’s power, I can directly see a camera’s location?
Next, Bai Zhenzhen moved the camera behind a wall on the other side of the room.
When they both activated the detection ritual, they were able to see the camera straight through the wall.
After a few minutes of testing, Zhang Yu confirmed that when activated, the detection ritual could help him locate any camera within a thirty-meter radius, and ordinary obstacles could not block this perception.
“Still, just a few minutes has already consumed almost half of the detection ritual’s power.”
“Fortunately, once the ritual is complete, it will automatically siphon power from the divine power network to recharge, as long as I’m in a networked environment.”
“By my calculations, I should have about ten minutes of detection time per day.”
Ten minutes didn’t sound like much, but for detection purposes, Zhang Yu felt it was more than enough.
Next, they picked up the pre-prepared testing patches to try out the anti-detection ritual.
Zhang Yu, whose magic power should have registered at over ninety units, now tested at only eighty-five. As he channeled more power into the anti-detection ritual, his detected magic power level dropped to as low as fifty units.
“The anti-detection ritual, on the other hand, can be maintained for one hour continuously each day.”
“It can conceal detection data for both magic power and physical strength.”
“Excellent,” Zhang Yu said with satisfaction. “This way, I won’t have to be so conspicuous in the upcoming monthly exams.”
Seeing their satisfied expressions, Fu Ji said proudly, “See? I was right, wasn’t I? These two rituals will be a huge help to you.”
“That’s the way of an evil god’s rituals. If you want to make a fortune in the future, get ahead in the dark world of tutoring, or even make a name for yourselves in fraud, smuggling, or corporate warfare, the more powerful the rituals you carry, the better.”
Zhang Yu knew Fu Ji was saying all this simply to convince him to help her continue raising her status and strength, which would in turn allow her to perform more rituals.
He strongly suspected that she had inflated the number of antiques required for the recent rituals, siphoning off a bit of extra evil god power for herself.
But since it seemed to be a win-win situation for now, Zhang Yu decided not to press the issue.
Hearing Fu Ji’s words, Zhang Yu asked, “How many more rituals can you maintain now?”
“I can maintain a total of ten rituals right now.”
“Subtracting the wish, detection, and anti-detection rituals on you two, that leaves me with enough capacity for four more rituals.”
“But there’s no need to rush. The remaining rituals all require expensive materials. You can leave the slots open for now and choose them later based on your needs.”
Zhang Yu then asked, “So what needs to be done for you to be able to maintain more rituals?”
Fu Ji chuckled. “Two ways. The first is to devour the status of my colleagues. With every step I take toward becoming a level-two evil god, the number of rituals I can maintain will increase.”
“The other is to usurp the authority of a righteous god, but that’s something you don’t need to worry about for now.”
“In short, as long as my status continues to rise, the ritualistic enhancements you receive will grow stronger and stronger. One day, you’ll be able to break free from the shackles of debt and obligation, and live a life of cultivation and financial freedom.”
“Otherwise, no matter how powerful you become, you’ll be nothing more than a workhorse for the Ten Great Sects.”
Afterward, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen packed up and returned to their apartment near Purple Cloud High School.
The moment he entered the apartment building, Zhang Yu activated the detection ritual and immediately perceived all the surveillance cameras inside.
Once inside their apartment, he activated the ritual again.
Although he and Bai Zhenzhen had already swept the room once before, he now used the ritual’s power to check again, back and front. Only after confirming there were no cameras did he finally feel at ease.
Meanwhile, Bai Zhenzhen continuously experimented with the changes in her body, gradually coming to understand what her newly unlocked potential allowed her to do.
Her magic power now carried a lightning attribute, transforming it into a specialized magic power.
With the aid of this specialized magic power, she found that her effectiveness when using Electric Flash Step and cultivating the Thunderclap True Body was greatly enhanced.
The constant stimulation of her muscles and nervous system as her magic power circulated significantly improved her reflexes, speed, agility, and explosive power.
Beyond that, she felt that cultivating any similar techniques in the future would be twice as effective with half the effort.
And finally…
Zhang Yu watched as Bai Zhenzhen stuck her fingers into an electrical socket, her body erupting in crackling electricity, and heard her laugh triumphantly.
“Yu-boy! Look! I can recharge my magic power just by plugging in, and charging even tempers my body! I can get stronger just by charging up!”
“Once my True Spiritual Root adapts to this new cultivation method, the efficiency will be even higher…”
Zhang Yu nodded at first, but his expression suddenly changed as he whipped his head around to look at their electricity meter.
Seeing the meter spinning wildly, Zhang Yu shouted, “Stop! Stop it right now!”
“If you keep cultivating like that, Le Mulan is going to kick us out of this apartment!”
Bai Zhenzhen reluctantly pulled her fingers from the socket. “Fine, fine.”
“I’ll just go to school tomorrow and steal electricity to cultivate.”
“Hehe, and while I’m stealing power, I can use the detection ritual to avoid the cameras…”
With the matter of the rituals successfully concluded, Zhang Yu once again focused his attention on his own cultivation.
The night passed in a flash. As his Longevity Magic Power circulated, Zhang Yu felt his physical body grow ever purer, and his Spring and Autumn Endless Zen broke through to a new level once more.
Spring and Autumn Endless Zen Level 9 (24/90)